Cabinet approves Electricity Bill

Deputy President Paul Mashatile is engaging with parliament in the expediating of a number of Bills which are a priority for the country, including the Draft Electricity Amendment Bill. This was according to Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni who briefed the media on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday.
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Cabinet approves Bill to open power market

Cabinet approved a Bill on electricity regulation designed to clear the path for private generation projects and power trading. State-owned Eskom Holding has provided more than 90% of electricity used by the most industrialized nation on the continent for a century. The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill outlines an entity to buy power as a step toward establishing a competitive market.
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South African catastrophes, power woes signal end of cheap insurance

Three major jolts in as many years coupled with the once unthinkable possibility of a power grid collapse have spooked reinsurers in South Africa, spelling an end to cheap coverage in the continent’s most developed insurance market. Insurance premiums are climbing worldwide on the back of rising inflation and interest rate hikes. But reinsurance rates in South Africa are outstripping the global trend – in some cases tripling – as insurers grapple with an unprecedented claims load, six industry executives told Reuters.
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Delaying solar investment could prove a mistake

Solar solutions company Terra Firma Solutions chief business development officer Ben Snyman has said it would be a mistake to delay investing in a solar system to see if the price drops.   “Solar costs have pretty much remained constant for the last five years. Prior to that, it was substantially more expensive but over the last four or five years, it’s pretty much remained constant,” he said on March 29. 
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City of Cape Town to raise feed-in tariff for selling power back to the grid

The City of Cape Town will raise the feed-in tariff for households and businesses selling power back to its grid by 10.15%, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has said. The mayor on Wednesday delivered Cape Town’s budget speech before the council. The R69.9-billion budget targets spending in specific areas such as infrastructure, water and sanitation and energy.
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Juwi, Red Rocket reach financial close on 84 MW Eastern Cape wind project

Renewable energy developer Juwi South Africa has reached financial close on and started building an 84 MW wind project in the Eastern Cape.

The Wolf Wind project was successfully bid by Red Rocket in Bid Window 5 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

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Companies, unions need to develop frameworks for dealing with impact of energy, water outages

Employers, their employees and trade unions need to develop framework agreements that set out how a company and its employees will respond to the impact of high levels of loadshedding, or even a grid outage, on the ability of the company and employees to perform their functions. This is the view of specialists from law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH), which emphasised that the parties must identify gaps in the Labour Relations Act to address these challenges and then develop a framework agreement that sets out how the company and its employees will respond.
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SAWEA points to some weaknesses in Energy Action Plan

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) says there are a number of key focus areas in government’s Energy Action Plan that require additional intervention and swift action.

Although the association commends the progress already made with implementing the plan since mid-2022, it believes that, for the country’s energy security challenges to be addressed adequately, a holistic view of available renewable energy sources need to be taken into consideration.

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Stage 4 loadshedding returns on Thursday

For the first time in more than two weeks, South Africa will be hit by Stage 4 loadshedding, which is currently planned for Thursday evening. Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented until 05:00 on Thursday. Then, Stage 3 will follow until 16:00, which will then be escalated to Stage 4 until 05:00 on Friday morning.
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Irena’s La Camera says energy transition remains off-track

International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) director-general Francesco La Camera has warned that the global energy transition is off-track and called for a fundamental course correction.

He noted in an address during the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, which was hosted in March 28, that a successful energy transition demands bold and transformative measures that reflect the urgency of the present situation; however, he added that the effects of multiple global crises had frustrated these efforts.

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